Metaphor Across Time and Genre (RaAM Seminar, 4-7 May 2011)

[Vito Evola]

This is a second call for abstracts for a specialised seminar of the international Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM), which will be held at Palacio de Valdeparaíso (Almagro, Spain), 5-7 May 2011.

As an association, RaAM strives to advance the study of metaphor, metonymy and other aspects of figurative thought and expression, with a commitment to the application of metaphor research to 'real world' issues. In the present seminar, the theme will be “Metaphor across Time and Genre”. We intend to highlight the socio-cultural and the discursive quality of metaphor, as well as the fact that it extends over various timescales and is manifested in different kinds of situated social practices (i.e. genres) conventionally used by discourse communities.

The seminar will be organized in a vertical manner, in that there will only be one session held at a time. Our main aim is to get people to attend everything, as well as chat, make contacts, renew old ones, and have fun, plus have time to discuss their own research with everybody. The event will feature three plenary lectures:
•       Dirk Geraeerts (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
•       Elena Semino (University of Lancaster)
•       Eve Sweetser (University of California, Berkeley)

We will also have keynote talks by:
•       Kathryn Allan (University College London)
•       Antonio Barcelona (University of Cordoba)
•       Enrique Bernardez (Complutense University, Madrid)
•       Jonathan Charteris-Black (University of the West of England)
•       Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. (University of California, Santa Cruz)
•       Iraide Ibarretxe (University of Zaragoza)
•       Veronica Koller (University of Lancaster)
•       Gitte Kristiansen (Complutense University, Madrid)
•       Farzad Sharifian (Monash University, Australia)
•       Javier Valenzuela (University of Murcia)

We are soliciting abstracts for 20-minute papers and for poster presentations. Given the vertical format of the seminar, spots for oral presentations will likely be quite competitive. In other words, reviewers will be asked to identify the submissions that seem most likely to generate broad interest due to originality of ideas or significance to the field. For this reason, posters are highly encouraged, and one hour will be reserved in the programme so that poster authors can introduce their work orally. The poster session will be permanently on display throughout the seminar.

Abstracts should be no more than 500 words (excluding references) and must specify whether they belong to oral presentations or to posters. Abstracts for both papers and posters must be sent to raam.s...@mobilearn.es. Authors are encouraged to use the template for abstracts available at http://www.uclm.es/actividades/2011/raam/abstracttemplate.rtf. The deadline for abstracts is 15 December 2010. Notification of acceptance decisions will be sent by 1 February 2011.

A special PhD event is also planned: A series of roundtables will be organized to help PhD students develop and strengthen their research projects and get to know peers who work on related projects elsewhere. Each of the roundtables will consist of no more than six PhD students and will be optimally composed according to research theme, methodology, et cetera. The roundtables will be chaired by senior researchers, who will lead the discussion and provide input themselves as well. To facilitate the identification of the main issues for discussion, brief statements will be distributed in advance and no papers will be presented. Those interested in participating in a PhD roundtable are invited to submit such a statement (250 words) with the research problem and/or method that they would like feedback on. Include mention of how this fits into your PhD project as a whole. Some bursaries/stipends may be available to help some PhD students attend. Details will be forthcoming.

For any queries, send a mail to the chairs of the seminar: Rosario Caballero (MRosario....@uclm.es) and Javier Diaz-Vera (JavierEnr...@uclm.es).

The registration fee is €90 and covers the book of abstracts, social programme, coffee breaks and two wine receptions.

Finally, we hope to be able to provide transportation from Madrid or from Ciudad Real to Almagro. Further details on this will be posted on the seminar’s webpage (http://www.uclm.es/actividades/2011/raam/).


The 2011 seminar scientific committee:
Juana Marin Arrese (Complutense University)
Antonio Barcelona (University of Cordoba)
Enrique Bernardez (Complutense University)
Lynne Cameron (Open University, United Kingdom)
Jonathan Charteris-Black (University of the West of England, United Kingdom)
Alan Cienki (Vrije Universiteit, Netherlands)
Alice Deignan (University of Leeds, United Kingdom)
Charles Forceville (Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Dirk Geraeerts (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
Iraide Ibarretxe (University of Zaragoza)
Veronika Koller (Lancaster University, United Kingdom)
Gitte Kristiansen (Complutense University)
Jeannette Littlemore (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Graham Low (York University, United Kingdom)
Fiona MacArthur (University of Extremadura)
Carita Paradis (Växjo University, Sweden)
Francisco Ruiz de Mendoza (University of La Rioja)
Julio Santiago de Torres (University of Granada)
Elena Semino (Lancaster University, United Kingdom)
Cristina Soriano (Université de Genève, Switzerland)
Richard Trim (University of Aix-en Provence, France)
Javier Valenzuela (University of Murcia)

The local organizing committee:
Rosario Caballero (University of Castilla-La Mancha)
Javier Diaz-Vera (University of Castilla-La Mancha)
Francisco Jose Ruiz de Mendoza (University of La Rioja)
Mª Jesus Pinar Sanz (University of Castilla-La Mancha)
Rafael Cruz, Jose Miguel Alcolado, Marta Gomez, Carmen Calzado (assistants, University of Castilla-La Mancha)

For information on becoming a member of RaAM, see the link for 'Joining' at  http://www.raam.org.uk/Home.html